Greater Manchester North is the 60th best place to live in the UK 2015

Having a good quality of life is a major priority for most people when they are deciding on where to base themselves, given that where you live within the UK can have a significant impact on how comfortable life is – financially and otherwise.

If you are looking to move, or are just curious about the different levels of quality of life that people are currently experiencing in different parts of the UK, then uSwitch have performed a detailed data analysis that can provide some important answers about the state of quality of life in all of the UK's 138 statistical regions in 2015.

For uSwitch's Best Places to Live in The UK Quality of Life Index, we have looked at officially gathered data for all kinds of factors that are relevant to general quality of life, including financial things like income, house prices and cost of living, and things relating to general standard of living like classroom sizes and mobile phone coverage.

Using all of this information we were able to rank the statistical regions of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland from the best places to live to the worst, and also to compare our finding based on 2015 data to the results from the last time we did this analysis in 2013, to show where in the UK is improving.

The Greater Manchester North statistical region is one that has actually fallen down the table since 2013, now coming in 60th place where it was in 49th two years ago. This still places Greater Manchester North in the top half of the table, however, with some positives in its stats compared to averages from across the UK.

Employment

Greater Manchester North has reasonable employment rates, with 72% of the people who live in this region in employment. A higher than average 48% of people are working standard full time hours of 35-45 hours per week, which is good, and a lower than average 20% are overworking – i.e. regularly working over 45 hours a week.

Income

Incomes are below average in Greater Manchester North, with the gross weekly income in 2015 at £437.52 per person.

House Prices

House prices can be considered low by UK standards at £120,900 for the average house sale in 2015. Rent is moderate, with the average weekly rental at £70 per person.

Life Expectancy

The life expectancy from birth in Greater Manchester North is similar to national averages, at 78 for men and 81 for women. Many regions in the UK see longer life expectancy, however.

Life expectancy is an influential factor that insurance companies use to determine life insurance premiums. You can check our advice guide on how to get a cheaper life insurance policy.

Living Costs

The cost of living in Greater Manchester North is relatively low when compared UK wide, with a weekly grocery shop coming to £53. Petrol prices are also below average at 116p – among the lowest in the UK.

Other Important Factors

Greater Manchester North has excellent mobile phone coverage, with 99% of the region able to get a signal. It also has moderately high broadband speeds, at 26.1Mbps on average in 2015.

These are some of the statistics used for calculating the position of Greater Manchester North in uSwitch's Best Places to Live in The UK Quality of Life Index for 2015.

More to life than rankings

At uSwitch, we know that there is more to life than rankings, stats and figures, and our Qualify of Life Index merely highlights the vast differences in the experiences of people across the UK.

Whether you're living in the best city or the worst, millions of households in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland face financial struggles including rising energy bills and credit card debt. That's why it's more important than ever for households to assess their budgets, and uSwitch.com offers a great way to start.

Below you can find ways to save on everything from car insurance to mobile bills.

About the research

The uSwitch.com study assessed 138 local areas (NUTS3 regions) for 26 factors such as salaries, disposable household income, and the cost of essential goods including food bills, fuel costs and energy bills. The study also factored in lifestyle issues like hours of sunshine, working hours and life expectancy to ensure a full picture of the quality of life in each NUTS3 region.

uSwitch Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under firm reference number 312850. You can check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA website.